Lavinia - There Is Light Between Us

First and foremost, Lavinia are no post-rock supergroup. The four-piece contains current and former members of Caspian, Eksi Ekso, The Burning Paris, On Fire, and The Fatal Flaw. The band signed to Mylene Sheath Records and released their debut album 'There Is Light Between Us' on November 16, 2010. Lavinia cover a whole lot of musical territory in just five songs, and that is an accomplishment in itself.

The album opens with 'Destroy Yourself', which begins with a slow and steady bass introduction and almost whispered vocals. The track follows the typical structuring for many post-rock tracks: quiet to loud, then back to quiet. At the 3:30 mark this song explodes into sonic amplification. 'Destroy Yourself' has one of the most epic crescendo's I have ever heard in post-rock music. Next up is the track 'A Damning Confession'. This track brings ot mind The Cure or The Twilight Sad. It contains a mixture of slow alternative musicianship and melancholic vocals that are kept at low volume. There is a ton of room for the band to release their tight compositions due to the vocals being quiet. The third track, 'Fires', follows a very similar pattern to 'Destroy Yourself'. Slow musical passages layering into epic walls of sound. 'Windmills' gives off a Midwestern feel, relying heavily on slide-guitar. The last track 'Bone and Arrow' is the longest track on the album, clocking in at over seven minutes. This is the most positive sounding song on 'There Is Light Between Us', but still captures that cold and dark element. 'Bone and Arrow' starts off with a hopeful sounding banjo passage which then builds into another song of sonic intensity and then finally levels out with more banjo, giving a positive and hopeful send-off. All I can say is that Lavinia sound like they have been playing together for years and this is only their first album. If they are already pushing the musical boundaries on 'There Is Light Between Us', I can only expect good things for the future of Lavinia.